Transportation Gets Increased Funding By Scott Nicholson Transportation funds for the region could see a boost in the years ahead, but it will likely result in little change for the long-term scheduling of highway projects. Arnold Lakey, an N.C. Board of Transportation representative for Division 11 that includes Watauga County, said the proposed state budget takes a milder bite of the gasoline taxes that have been appropriated for years into the general operational budget instead of highway improvements as intended. Lakey said it’s still premature to predict how the funding will look in the next few years, particularly given the federal highway funding. However, he said the region’s transportation needs should receive a little more attention with the General Assembly changing slightly in the last election. AAA Carolinas released a recent report ranking the worst substandard bridges, with a decline in overall numbers of bridges that need maintenance or replacement. Lakey said the western mountains have a higher number of bridges, mostly due to the numbers of waterways, but he said needed projects would be addressed as they are ranked in the current Transportation Improvement Plan. Last month, about 30 percent of the state’s bridges were rated as substandard, about the same as two years ago. “I don’t think there will be any more delays in bridge construction,” Lakey said. “They should proceed as scheduled.” The average age of the top 20 substandard bridges is 47 years, and they carry 6.5 million vehicles a week. The number of permanently closed bridges dropped from 37 to 32, but weight limits for safety restrictions increased by 6 percent. Needed bridge repairs cost an estimated $200 million a year, but just more than a fourth of that is funded. However, transportation groups acknowledge no bridges are in danger of collapse. “Quite a few will be replaced in the next five to 10 years,” Lakey said. “Some of the projects will show up in the next TIP (plan), covering 2009 to 2015.” Last year, the DOT replaced 113 bridges statewide. Substandard bridges are those deemed “structurally deficient” or “functionally obsolete,” often due to age or traffic volume. Lakey said other local projects will probably still finish on schedule, and those that are currently unfunded should begin showing up in plans after 2013. Projects such as the Boone bypass, discussed for years, are still a long way from route selection, with cost estimates reaching as high as $160 million. Watauga County has no bridges ranked among the 1,000 most substandard in the state. The worst-ranked one spans Cove Creek on U.S. 321 and was built in 1936. It carried 4,600 vehicles per day. The 2007-2013 Transportation Improvement Plan includes 17 local bridge projects, including the Federal Highway Administration funding of the Goshen Creek Bridge repair on the Blue Ridge Parkway at a cost of $1.6 million. Bridge replacements are also scheduled for Meat Camp Creek, Howard’s Creek, Watauga River Middle Fork Creek and the South Fork of the New River. Lakey and other transportation officials met with county leaders last week to discuss intersections, road changes, and signals for the new high school. Lakey said though the project was not on the transportation improvement plan, he believed other sources of money could be tapped to move the project forward. “We’ll probably have to find different pots of money for that project, outside of DOT,” Lakey said. “Sen. Steve Goss and Rep. Cullie Tarleton have been looking for special funding and it looks like it will get done.”